The Puranam of Tirumooladeva Nayanar

(tirumUladEva nAyanAr purANam - Periyapuranam as English poetry)

"I am a serviteur of the serviteurs
Of our lord Tirumoolar"

- The Tiru-th-Tonda-th-Tokai.

1. In Mount Kailaas of the Lord who wears the young
And crepuscular crescent in His crest, Nandi, the Chamberlain,
In the hoary and ever-during temple, regulates the entry
Of Indra, Vishnu, Brahma and other Devas for the darshan
Of Lord Siva; a Siva-yogi well-versed in the four Vedas
And initiated by Nandi thrived there. (3564)

2. He came by all the rare eight occult powers beginning
With Animaa; desiring to sojourn with saint Agastya,
Privileged by claims of intimacy, he through the sky,
Fared forth from the Lord’s divine Kailas towards
The Potiyil-hill of goodly Tamil. (3565)

3. He adored at aeviternal Kedaaram, and the great saint
Came to the celebrated Pasupati Nepal where he hailed
And worshipped the Lord; then he came to the shore
Of the broad ford where swans teemed in the Ganga
Of pure water which Lord Siva received in His matted hair. (3566)

4. He bathed in the long ford of the Ganga and adored
The Merciful One who abides in joy in Varanasi,
The Lord who helps lives reach the shore of birthlessness;
He then adored at cloud-capped Vindya, at sempiternal
Sri Sailam and he then came to the Tirukkaalatthi-hill
Where abides the crescent-crested Lord. (3567)

5. He adored the abiding Sthaanu at ever-during
Tirukkaalatthi; he then came to Tiruvaalangkaadu--,
One of the five courts--, where the Lord enacts
His dance, and adored there; then at Tiruvekaamparam
He adored the Lord unknowable to the questing two;
He sojourned in Kaanchi, the city of foison which is
Girt with great and lofty walls. (3568)

6. He companied with Siva-yogis in love in that godly city;
He then came to Tiruvatikai girt with a rocky rampart
And there adored the Lord; then he came
To the golden city of Perumpatra-p-Puliyoor
Whose street girdles the Tiruvambalam where
The blue-throated Lord enacts His wondrous dance. (3569)

7. He adored the Lord’s roseate foot
Uplifted for the deliverance of all the worlds, in fitting love;
Delight welled up in his heart; he witnessed the dance
Of bliss in his inner and godly consciousness,
And adoring the Lord in that felicity he abode there,
Unable to part from it. (3570)

8. At the end of his sojourn at Puliyoor rich in mansions
Of bright and lofty thresholds, he adored the Lord
And left the city; then he came to the bank of the Cauvery
Which endowed its regions with plenty, but would
Not feed the maw of the sea thinking
That it was not afraid to feed the Lord-Rider
Of the martial Bull, with venom. (3571)

9. He bathed in the great water of the Cauvery and pursued
His course on its bank; he came to Tiruvaavaduthurai
Where Uma performed tapas in the form of a calf;
He circumambulated the splendorous shrine of Lord Pasupati
Who rides the Bull, and in great love adored Him;
He longed to sojourn there. (3572)

10. He divined a hint which urged him not to leave
That town; he loved it all the more; yet he left
The town, and as he moved on, he saw many herds
Of kine in the pasture-lands abutting
The Ponni’s bank, pining in great grief. (3573)

11. A man called Moolan, a neatherd by profession
That came in the line of cowherds of Saatthanoor--
The village where Brahmins dwelt in splendour--,
Was grazing his cattle all alone; as his allotted days
In this world ended, fierce Death smote him,
And down he fell on earth, lifeless. (3574)

12. When the yogi of great tapas beheld the herds of kine
Come near his body, wheel round it, bellow in anguish,
Go round and round the corpse and smell it,
By the grace of the Lord, he mused thus:
“I will wipe off the distress of these cows.” (3575)

13. “These kine will not be relieved of their distress
Unless he rises from the dead.” Thus he concluded.
The muni of tapas who decided to cause his life
Course into the corpse, had his own body safely guarded.
And by his art of controlling the vital breath,
He breathed his life into the decad body. (3576)

14. Having thus infused his life into that body whence
He rose as Tirumoolar, all the cows in great joy
Neared him, licked him, smelt him and in joy bellowed.
In loving delight they leaped about
With uplifted tails; cured of their misery
They duly grazed in the pasture. (3577)

15. When he beheld the herds of kine grow happy,
Grace and mercy welled up in him he went
After them where they grazed; they came to the ford
Of the Cauvery, drank water and came up to the bank;
He took care of them by causing them
To browse in the flowery pasture-land. (3578)

16. When the fierce sun sank behind the western mountain
The herds of kine slowly moved onward of their own
Accord, thinking of their calves; when they came
To the world-renowned Saatthaanoor; Tirumoolar who came
By truthful consciousness poised in the Saiva way,
Followed the kine to their destination. (3579)

17. He that went behind the cows stopped at the houses
Where the cows entered; the glorious wife of the neatherd
Thinking on the delay in her husband’s arrival
Even after the sunset, in fear, proceeded forth and found
Him poised in a different state; she thought thus:
“Some evil had befallen him.” When she tried to take
Hold of him physically he would not suffer her do so. (3580)

18. She had neither children nor kin rare; she grew
Scared and was bewildered; addressing him she said:
“What may your action mean?” She grieved sorely.
To her Tirumoolar thus spake; “I have no nexus
With you whatsoever”, and he of soaring tapas
Moved into a public matam. (3581)

19. Having perceived the altogether different outlook
Of her husband, she would not, that whole night, whisper
A word to any one; neither would she sleep
As her husband was not with her; next day she petitioned
To the town-elders about her husband’s plight;
The goodly men came to him,
Studied him closely and mercifully spake thus: (3582)

20. “This is neither frenzy nor dementia; nor is there
For this any external cause; lo he is firmly
Poised in lucid Siva-yoga having weeded out
All mental oscillations and vacillations;
Endless is his glory; aeviternal is his beatitude. (3583)

21. “Like one initiated and thus gaining the feet
Of the Supreme One while yet alive, having done
Away with all desire, he has become a seer
Endowed with omniscience; he will no longer be
Involved in his former relationship with you.”
When told thus, she grieved much; those who were
Close to her, took her with them. (3584)

22. Tirumoolar proceeding from the matam, traced his way
Following the route of the kine, back to the place
Where he had his body guarded; lo, the fleshy heap
Was not to be seen; through his ominiscience
He contemplated the incident to get clarified. (3585)

23. For Tirumoolar to indite on carth in his Tamil
The message of the Agamas authored by the Lord
Who wears in His crest the cool-rayed crescent,
The Lord in His well-dispensed grace concealed his body;
‘So, it is but the Lord’s own grace’.
Thus, he of infinite consciousness comprehended it. (3586)

24. Unto the tribesmen that accompanied him, he made it
Absolutely clear that he had no nexus with them;
When they departed, he meditated on the feet
Of the Lord whose banner sports the Bull; then he who had
Pulled down, root and branch, desire, wrath and the like,
Came to cool Tiruvaavaduturai. (3587)

25. At Tiruvaavaduturai he adored Siva, the Rare Ens,
In all propriety, and sat in yogic posture under
The peepul tree situate west of the temple’s court;
Poised in Siva-yoga he became oned with the Lord
Enthroned in the lotus-heart. (3588)

26. For the dwellers of earth to rid the poisonous
Embodiment and gain deliverance, he composed
Tirumantramaalai of fourfold path culminating
In Gnaanam; he but uttered a stanza, once a year;
His work hailing the Lord who wears the tusk
Of the boar, began thus: “Onru Avanthaane.” (3589)

27. He composed his garland of Tamil made up
Of three thousand stanzas of (Aagamic) import;
For this he joyously flourished on earth
For three thousand years; then he reached
The sacred Kailaas by the grace of the Lord
Who wears the crescent in His crest and for ever
Became irretrievably oned with His feet. (3590)

28. Having adored the flower-feet of Tirumoola Devar
Who explicated the fourfold path of Gnaanam,
Yogam, Kiriyai and Cariyai we now proceed
To narrate the celebrated and strong servitorship
Of heroic Tandi Atikal who at Tiruvaaroor
Of spreading renown, confounded the Samanas. (3591)

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NOTES

Verse No.

1. This verse informs us that Tirumoolar was a direct disciple of Nandi
who was a direct disciple of Lord Siva Himself. Nandi is also one of
the names of Siva. “Nandi naamam Namasivayave” is the affirmation
of St. Sambandhar.

2. Agastya: The saint who is hailed as the first grammarian of Tamil. He
chose to reside for ever in the Potiyil-Hill. This hill is sacred to the
Tibetan Buddhists.

9. Tiruvaavaduthurai: This is the name of the shrine. The town is called
Saatthanoor. See verse 11.

10. He divined. . . that town: This observation is fraught with significance.
Our saint essayed to ignore the divine intimation, in vain.

11. Moolan: This is the name of the neat herd. This eventually became our
saint’s name. Moola means origin, here is it symbolic of the origin of
Aagamaanta in Tamil.

13. Metampsy chosis is resorted to by our saint. This was but a child’s
play for our saint. Verse two of this Puranam says that our
saint -- a Siva-yogi--, came by all the rare eight occult powers
beginning with Anima.

14. Our saint detracted from his course; it was to wipe out the distress of
cows. The cow is a sacred animal. The Puranam of Chandesa Naayanaar
and the chapter entitled Go-pura Viyal (Siva Dharumotram) attest to the
aeviternal glory of cows.

15-16. Tirumoolar the Good Shepherd is supremely happy when his flock is
happy. Macarism marks the great.

21. She grieved much: This is the general lot of a Hindu wife whose life is
one of total forbearance.

22. The fleshy heap was not to be seen: See verse 10. None can transgress
a divine command. Now our saint meditates on his plight and is blessed
with clarity.

25. The peepul tree: This becomes the Kallaala tree for our Siva-yogi.

26. Tirumantira Maalai: This is the name of the tenth Saivite Tirumurai.
It is both Sastra and Stotra. It is the quintessence of the Vedas and
the Saiva Aagamas. Each verse is packed with the concentrated wisdom
of one whole year. Each verse has several layers of meaning. It can be
understood only by the grace of the Guru.

27. The work comprises 3,000 verses. “Tillai vaazh Antanar tham
Adiyaarkkum Adiyen” (I am a serviteur of the servitors of the
Tillai-Brahmins) said Lord Siva. Their total number is three
thousand. The Tirumantiram is the Veda with its three thousand
ramifications.

Here ends the Puranam of St. Tirumooladeva Naayanaar

Sincere thanks to Sri. T N Ramachandran of thanjavur, for permitting his English rendering of the holy text periyapurANam be published here.